Roller-platform for scales.



7v A1 0 M 1M w E 4H a Q n 1T mm H Patented 3 H ig 12 .IvLGm RANT.

RM FOR SUAL LEI) D110. 23, i

H. M. G

ROLLER PLATFO APPLICATION I'I H. M. GRANT.

ROLLER PLATFORM FOR SCALES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 23, L912.

Patented July 14, 191i 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

H.M. Gram Wiiueo ozo elftomnu a length can be built. upon or added I FFICE.

HERBERT M. GRANT, OF VISALIA, CALIFORNIA.

ROLLER-PLATFORM FOR SCALES.

mosses.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 14, 1914:.

Application filed. December 23, 1912. Serial No. 738,296.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, HERBERT M. GRANT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Visalia, in the county of Tulare and State of California, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Roller-Platforms for Scales; and l do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to. make and use the same.

This invention relates to measuring instruments and more especially to scales; and the object of the same is to construct an improved platform to replace or to be built upon the platform of a scale now in use and to facilitate the placing of boxes and barrels on such platform and their removal therefrom. This object is carried out by constructing the platform with a series of parallel rollers whose upper sides project slightly above its surface, and in supplying said rollers and their journals and wear plates in units so that a platform of the desired to the platform of any ordinary scale, and so that worn units can be replaced quickly whenever necessary.

The details of the invention are set forth more fully in the following specification and claims, and shown in the drawings wherein-.

Figure 1 is a general perspective view of the interior of a packing house showing one of my improved platforms as mounted upon that of an ordinary platform scale and raised above the surface of the floor, and showing an approach on either side of the same. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the platform of a scale and the floor on either side thereof, showing the former as depressed below the level of the latter and built up to such level by the addition of one of my improved platforms. Fig. 3 is a cross sectionthrough one of the rollers and both sills ofthis improved platform, taken on a larger scale; and Fig. 4 is a cross section through one of the sills and the fastening device for a wear plate, on a still larger scale. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are perspective details of the various blocks as described below; and Fig. 8 is a perspective detail of one of the wear plates.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings the floor F'is shown a pierced with an opening 0 in which stands the ordinary platform P of a scale having any suitable type of weighing mechanism W, and in this view my improved platform is mounted upon the platform P of the scale and therefore rises above the level of the floor F so that approaches A must be employed in order to roll the barrels or wheel the trucks carrying the boxes up onto the platform to be weighed, and then down from the same to be shipped away. In Fig. 2 the scale platform P is depressed below the level of the floor F and when my improved platform is built upon said scale platform it rises only to the level of the floor line, and therefore no approaches are necessary. I have purposely given these two illustrations to show that the platform constituting the subject matter of the present invention may be attached to a scale already set up and without making any changes therein, or the scale platform may be lowered a little (a perhaps by stripping its flooring from the sills in a manner which any carpenter will understand) and my improved platform applied thereto so that the surface of the finished device will be no higher than formerly. It will not be necessary to illustrate how my improved platform could be applied to that of an ordinary store scale such as is mounted on wheels and stands considerably above the floor level, but if the merchandise to be weighed has to be lifted at all it might as well be lifted a little higher and placed upon a platform of my improved construction, or if the merchandise is brought to the scale on a truck and weighed and carried away on the truck there will be no lifting required.

Coming now to the details of the present invention, the base of my improved platform is composed of a pair of parallel sills 1 having semi-circular notches 2 cut in their upper edges at equal distances apart, and a pair of end beams 3 disposed between the extremities of the sills l and secured thereto in any suitable manner as by screws or bolts l, but the height of the beams is slightly greater than that of the sills for a purpose yet to appear. in the lower edges of the members of this base and particularly of its end members, are disposed pins 5 projecting downward and adapted to engage sockets '6 which may be holes bored in the ordinary scale platform P or the beams thereof if its surface boardmg is removed; and, if these pins are simply smooth studs of wood or iron as shown, my entire improved platform is rendered removable from the scale platthe upper edge of'each sill andof a proper height to bring it up to the height of the upper edges of the end beams, so that the.

thickness of the entire base will be the same all the way around. Each of these blocks I 10 is best formed as seen in Fig. 5, with a tongueS projecting from the lower portion of one end, and a tongue 9 projecting from the upper portion of the upper end, each tongue being about half the height of the block itself so that the space above the tongue 8 or below the tongue 9 is 'just sufficient to receive the complemen- 20' tary tongue of the adjacent block. One end block 19 on each sill 1 has only one tongue 9 and its other end is made square so as to fill out this end of the sill, and the other end block 18 is similarly providedwith but a single tongue 8 and fills out the other end of the sill. Disposed within the framework thus formed and extending across it on parallel lines are several rollers 20, each having a body whose length is sufficient to permit it to stand between the inner faces of the two side sills 1 and whose diameter is suflicient to cause the upper side of the roller to rise slightly above the' npper edge of the base, and the trunnions 21 of the rollers are j ournaled in the-bearings formed by the registering notches 2 and 12. It is obvious that there must be one roller for each pair of blocks 10; and if the distance from each bearing to the next is one'foot, it is obvious that the blocksmust each 'be one foot long excepting the endmost blocks which will be one foot long, plus the thickness of the endbeams 3. Assuming that said beams are three inches thick, in order to build a base upon a scale platform P which was six feet six inches long it willv be clear thatv two side sills of that length are required, two end beams secured between their extremities as at 1 and which beams must be six inches shorter than the width of the scale platform so that the side sills can pass across the extremities of the beams, four blocks 10 must overlie each sill and their tongues 8 and 91111181 lap each other as shown, and one each of the end blocks 18 and 19 are employed at the extremities of each silla similar arrangement of blocks being of course provided for the other sill.

A platform of this kind will carry six rollers standing'one foot apart and extending almost completely across .the width of the scale platform, and it is obvious that heavy articles such as filled barrels, boxes, trunks,

pieces of machinery, stone and the like could be moved onto and off of a scale platform so provided with rollers, much more easily than if the rollers were missing. If this improved platform be built upon a scale platform which is itself level with the floor line as shown in Fig. 1, approaches A will have to be provided, and these may themselves have rollers 64 as illustrated therein;

The blocks .will be secured upon the upper edges of the side sills 1 by any suitable Each plate 22 has a body'ofa length corresponding with that of therollers between which it is disposed and of such width that it. reaches from one roller to the next, its" edges 23 adjacent said rollers being undercut so that theentrance of dirt and obstructions between the rollers and the plates is prevented and anything which accumulates.

on either roller is scraped off by the plates.

Ateach end of the body of this plate it is continued fora distance equal to the thickness of the sidesill l and pierced'with a proper hole for the screw'20, and it is projected thence transversely to its length lnto a tongue 25which extends across the end of the roller'and isby'pre'ference pierced withan opening 26 so that'oil may be dropped therein from time to time, the block 10 directly beneath being provided with a,

duct 27 permitting the oil to run down into the roller bearing. asshown. The tongue at the opposite end of the 'platejbody is by preference projected in the opposite direction over the bearing for the next roller,

although if preferred all plates may be made with the tongues projecting to one side thereof. In anyevent, the plates will be built to standard size, as for instance by being in lengths of three feet, four feet, five feet,

etc. for scales whose platforms have those Wldtl1SflI1Cl also in widths suflicientto permit them to be used between rollers whose axes stand twelve inches apart, thirteen inches, eleven inches, etc, although by pref erence I would adopt some standard such as one foot and maintainQthat standard. It is understood that the width ,of'the plates cannot be fully that of the standardwidth;

because the upper side of the rollers rise slightly above the plate and the latter must therefore be correspondingly reduced in width. These plates will be of malleable ironor other suitable metal,they may be anti-rust in character or treated so as to prevent rusting, and if desired they may be slightly corrugatedor roughened on their upper surface-to prevent slipping. One end plate 28 in the illustration shown in Fig. 1 has only one tongue projecting inward, and the other end plate 29 has only one tongue projecting inward at the other side so as to fill out the series of tongues overlapping the bearings in the manner above described.

l/Vhat is claimed as new is:

1. A platform having parallel metallic wear plates constituting its surface and spaced from each other, blocks on the side sills of said platform supporting said plates and having bearings, fastening devices through said plates and blocks, and rollers whose bodies rise through the spaces between said plates and whose trunnions are journaled in said bearings.

2. The herein described platform comprising a. base consisting of end members and side sills having notches in their upper edges; combined with a series of units whereof each consists of a pair of blocks having notches in their lower edges adapted to coact with the notches in said side sills to produce bearings and also having tongues projecting from the upper portion of one end and the lower portion of the other end, a roller whose trunnions are journaled in the bearings thus produced, and a fastening device passing downward through the interengaging tongues of two of said blocks, the endmost units having blocks whose outer extremities are cut off square to overlie the end members of the base.

3. The herein described platform comprising side sills having opposite bearings, rollers whose bodies project slightly above said sills and whose trunnions are journaled in said bearings, and a flooring consisting of metallic strips whose bodies stand between the rollers and whose ends have laterally projecting tongues extending past the Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the tongues of two of said blocks,

ends of the rollers and secured upon the sills over the hearings in the latter.

4. The herein described platform comprising side sills having opposite bearings, rollers whose bodies project slightly above said sills and whose trunnions are ournaled in said bearings, and a flooring made up of a number of metallic plates whereof each is of a length to reach from one sill to the other and of a width to fill the space between the projecting portions of two rollers, and each plate has at its ends oppositely projecting lateral tongues overlying the sills and secured thereto and reaching to the plates next adjacent.

5. The herein described platform comprising a base; combined with a series of units whereof each consists of a pair of blocks having bearings and also having tongues projecting from the upper portion of one end and the lower portion of the other end, a roller whose trunnions are journaled in the bearings, a wear plate of a length to reach from one block to the opposite block and of a width to stand between two contiguous rollers, a laterally projecting tongue at each end of each plate overlying the block beneath it and extending past the end of the roller, and a fastening device passing downward through each end of each plate and through the the endmost units having blocks whose outer extremities are cut off square to overlie the ends of the base.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing wit-' nesses.

HERBERT M. GRANT.

Witnesses J. M. HOWELL, MAUDE E. VAN DEUSEN.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

inter-engaging 

